Why are we called african american?, Why Are we caled black? were brown

In the late 1980’s it was settled that African American was the best term for “blacks”. I’m a “black” but I don’t get how I’m African American. I’m American, I was born here so were my parents. Ancestors however I’m not sure? Say they were slaves from Africa..I was still born in America. Isn’t that one way how you become an American? Whats really crazy is a “black” person born in the UK is still at times call a African American? What? Their not even from America. The term is just switched up so much.

Thats why I just say I’m American. The term “black” doesn’t fit any human in this world. We should be called if any color brown. We are different shades of brown. “Brown American” has a ring to it? But that’s what we really are. Does the term “white” fit too? Everyone is a “colored” Right?

A white, yellow or “brown” man and their parents are born in Africa so they are African. No way around that. But say that white man comes to America with a white woman also a African and they have children. What are his children then? They should be what we are called right? But no its not like that.

Whites aren’t called European-Americans? On test at school when we have to mark our race (which is so silly…why does that even matter) the only option for whites is “white”, while “browns” have “black/African American”

I just don’t get how other humans can say what people are and it settled. while it doesn’t apply to all.

African-American vs. American-- youtube.

Please leave any feedback.

-Thanks Travarus.

Tags: Are, Why, african, american?, are, black?, brown, caled, called, we, More…were

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by AllPeople on February 2, 2010 at 8:38am

.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
AAs & BAs: The KEY difference
between these TWO (2) groups ...
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The African-Americans (AAs) are an ETHNIC
grouping of people that is comprised ONLY of:

*** The 'Descendants-Of-The-Survivors' of
the chattel-slavery system that took place on
the 'continental' United States of America
during the antebellum era of its history.***

Most (+70%) -- although not all -- of the people
who are born to two (2) AA parents are found to
have an ancestral "racial" lineage that includes
varying amounts of African (45-55%), Amerindian
(+25%) and also European (+20-30%) bloodlines
-- that were both admixed into and "continually
remained" within the lineage of their families.

(Meaning they are of the Mixed-Race category that is
referred to as "Multi-Generational Multiracially-Mixed"
or as 'MGM-Mixed' racially-admixed ancestral lineage)

Thus, this incredibly unique ETHNIC group of people is
actually not seen (by most scientists and geneticist)
as being a 'Black' RACE group (or any sort of RACE
group) at all --- but rather they are seen as actually
being comprised of people that span across
the following "racial" categories and groups ...

**** Multiracial (about 70% of the AAs -- ex. Jayne Kennedy)
**** Black (about 20% of the AAs -- ex. Oprah Winfrey)
**** Biracial (About 5% of the AAs -- ex. Jennifer Beals)
**** Amerindian or White (About 5% of the AAs -- ex. Walter White)

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The Black Americans (BAs) are a RACE
grouping of people that consists ONLY of:

***The 'Volitional Immigrants' that are from nations
that are found all over the world and who are both
Fully of the Black Race group and who are also
NOT the descendants-of-the-survivors of the
chattel slavery system that was once found
on the continental United States of America.***

As noted, the BAs are a RACE group and
are seen as being of a fully-Black lineage.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al5eeK2CFwcv4rD5U5qzvE...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiebDu.tSshJzQ0wS5fMp7...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjwuxYj8agKY7yGgqaJ7i....

http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=35284580&po...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3331

http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070161&po...

http://mgmix.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070414&po...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/2885

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3344

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1399

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1747

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1402

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1400

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1570

.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brandon on February 2, 2010 at 9:44am

I didn't read all of the previous post. I read quit a bit of them though. I can't believe their are people that are seriously going to come on here and deny their African heritage when clearly they have some by just looking at their avatars..So Africans don't claim us. You think America( as a whole )does? Regardless of who or what claims you, you are what you are. AFRICAN!(with sprinkles). I'm Proud of my heritage. Whatever it may compose of.. I can't change it so I'm not going to worry about it. Just accept it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ABORTION PARTY on February 2, 2010 at 9:59am

I DO call white people "European Americans" all the time and it's always hilarious to see them get annoyed.

PolarVibez said:

i think I get where you are coming from for the most part. If I'm an African American and the Indigenous people are Native " Americans" then why do Europeon Americans so often get the distinction of being simply "American". How are they more American than me and my ancestors who've been here just as long as them or more American than the people who were here before all of us. Essentially we are all from somewhere else. So to be fair we should all be simply american or have the respective continental prefix before "American". The short answer to "why" could be of course racism. It's a way to trivilise our American experience. But...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Miss Lashea on February 2, 2010 at 10:06am

I definitely agree with you...just because I don't know exactly know where in Africa my ancestors came from does not mean I am going to write Africa off...I am learning about ALL cultures there and from what I have learned so far it has a MAJOR impact and influence on African Americans, Black Pepople, American Africans...whatever you call yourself...our heritage continues to run through our veins and it ain't going no where...no matter how much Europeans try and exterminate it. As for me I call myself, I have referred to myself and to others who look like me as African american, black, black american, and so on and so forth...whatever you call yourself, We should celebrate and take pride in our heritage. We can't sit up here and so, I don't want to call myself African because im not from Africa....I don't understand that reasoning....sorry but I don't. Just my two cents.

Brandon said:

I didn't read all of the previous post. I read quit a bit of them though. I can't believe their are people that are seriously going to come on here and deny their African heritage when clearly they have some by just looking at their avatars..So Africans don't claim us. You think America( as a whole )does? Regardless of who or what claims you, you are what you are. AFRICAN!(with sprinkles). I'm Proud of my heritage. Whatever it may compose of.. I can't change it so I'm not going to worry about it. Just accept it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alicia Rose Steele on February 2, 2010 at 10:29am

Whenever I have to check a box, even if there is an "other" category, I'll make my own box and write "brown." I call white people "peach people" as well.
It gets tricky. I don't want people to box me, especially since I'm ambiguously brown people find security in me claiming to be from somewhere, some-history. I'm not down with the comparisons or having to be the mixed rep. - you know the deal. It's documentation like the Census where I go back and fourth. Do I stay with my usual DIY system, or do I mark the closest identity to my own, even if it is not theoretically or historically accurate? The Census does show us where our people are, where the resources are.

I wonder about that...not fully committed either way. I need more information about the goods and the evils of the Census.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Monstah Black on February 2, 2010 at 10:50am

well said! preach:)

NpyHedBlkChld said:

well i look at it as this...my heritage is african and black seminole which are seminole natives and escaped and free africans. I was born in american so that would make me american. African americans are indeed african by heritage and american by nationality (that means by chance). Jesse jackson and other prominent civil rights folks of yesteryear came together and decided on african american. in the past "black", "negro", "darky", the n word were all insults adjectives that were used as nouns. African American is a much better term because it is a modified noun which gives much respect to the reality that we are African by heritage and american in terms of the nation where we live at.

Personally i only answer to the term african...i do not and will not refer to myself as an american because with respect to my fellow people of african descent and various other groups stateside and worldwide america simply does not live up to the ideals that it likes to boast about.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bettie on February 2, 2010 at 11:07am

I'm Black. I was born in Africa, raised in Brasil, and now live here. I identify with the word "Black" as an extension of the word "Preto" and it fits me very well.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by djwazu on February 2, 2010 at 12:20pm

I want to be known as "that nigga!" thank you.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by dj ceiba on February 2, 2010 at 12:33pm

people deal with race and skin color too much, but people that don't name themselves are often owned. i prefer to designate ancestry and location in my name like many immigrants do. like italian-american or jamaican-brit. as an ANGLORICAN-AMERICAN (father: white & mother: puerto rican), i'm brown. however, some people say i'm white, others say black - usually they link me to whatever race/ethnicity they are if they like me OR put me in the "other" category if they don't. for better or worse, my skin changes colors according to the seasons or where i am in the world that month. bunny wailer sings about the blackHEART man. THAT'S real to me.

one thing i noticed about punks when i was involved in the punk/hardcore in the 80's &90's, was that folks were united a shared cultural experience. most of us were involved with a struggle for self-knowledge and were fueled with the righteous (not ignorant) indignation that came with knowing what was best for US. since at that time, punk and hardcore was made up of almost all white people, the ends that we were working towards didn't necessarily include the fullest expression of myself & who i was becoming. in fact, being aware of myself as a racially mixed person was THREATENING to many of my friends in that scene. i eventually moved on to reggae & actually became a professional traditional african and afro-latin drummer (both of those groups have their own set of racial and cultural ideas, too).

to me, todays afro-punk movement can (and in my humble opinion) should embrace cultural, racial, ethnic and class realities and bring them into the dialogue in music and culture in general. it's ok to not want to be called african, but you should understand why black and brown people are in the economic situation worldwide that we're in (for instance, black and brown people make up most of the US prison population & almost none of the university population). economic oppression is built into america. the deeper i studied history and culture, the more i found the need for myself (and all non-white people) to keep their ancestral homeland as their foundation because america is not FOR them. america (up until now) stands for the military/industrial complex and homogenization of all people it comes in contact with. i was born here, but these are not my values. that's why i make sure i put the puerto rican in my ethnicity. it links me to something more than JUST america.

by the way - i've actually used "european-americans" and "white americans" interchangeably for like 10 years. it just made sense to me. same with african-americans & black americans. i've also been known to say "brown/red/yellow-americans", too (but less so). it's about what group i'm with and what setting we're in. i just use whatever tools are available in the language to get my point across.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tam on February 2, 2010 at 12:39pm

For me this a topic im a little uncomfortable with. Im not American by birth or blood. I was born in the caribbean from both "black " parents. However my grandmother is half scottish, 1/4 garifuna and 1/4 black. My father is half carib indian and scottish and half black. What does this make me? I dont feel like claiming mixed heritage because most of humanity is mixed, and i am more obviously "black looking", and Im not african american. When I check the race box I usually check other and write in west indian. Because I dont really feel i fully identify with what black means because if your black in america its more politically correct to say african american. If i call myself brown, then what are mexicans and indians in this country going to be called? This whole need for racial terminology is a real mind f%c*.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tam on February 2, 2010 at 12:47pm

@allpeople where would I fit in in the BA. AA race category there both not relevant to me. My countries ancestors are red and yellow indians.

Tam said:

For me this a topic im a little uncomfortable with. Im not American by birth or blood. I was born in the caribbean from both "black " parents. However my grandmother is half scottish, 1/4 garifuna and 1/4 black. My father is half carib indian and scottish and half black. If we need to be so racially specific, what does this make me? I dont feel like claiming mixed heritage because most of humanity is mixed, and i am more obviously "black looking", and Im not african american. When I check the race box I usually check other and write in west indian. If i call myself brown, then what are mexicans and indians in this country going to be called? This whole need for racial terminology is a real mind f%c*. Personally I wouldn't mind if people called me african because its a beautiful and diverse place where all humankind started.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by kifaru on February 2, 2010 at 1:16pm

What are red and yellow indians? You are a person of African descent though right.? You look like a pretty black woman to me.

Tam said:

@allpeople where would I fit in in the BA. AA race category there both not relevant to me. My countries ancestors are red and yellow indians.
Tam said:
For me this a topic im a little uncomfortable with. Im not American by birth or blood. I was born in the caribbean from both "black " parents. However my grandmother is half scottish, 1/4 garifuna and 1/4 black. My father is half carib indian and scottish and half black. If we need to be so racially specific, what does this make me? I dont feel like claiming mixed heritage because most of humanity is mixed, and i am more obviously "black looking", and Im not african american. When I check the race box I usually check other and write in west indian. If i call myself brown, then what are mexicans and indians in this country going to be called? This whole need for racial terminology is a real mind f%c*. Personally I wouldn't mind if people called me african because its a beautiful and diverse place where all humankind started.